"How can I care whether you sigh for me
While still I sleep alone swallowing back
. The spittle of desire, unmanned, a tree Pollarded of its crown, a dusty sack
Tossed on the stable rack?
How can I care what coloured frocks you wear,
What humming-birds you watch on jungle hills,
What phosphorence wavers in your hair,
Or with what water-music the night fills-
Dear love, how can I care?"
Robert Graves
Born July 24, 1895
9 Brothers and Sisters
Fought with France in WWI
Throughout the early 1900s he wrote lots of "War Poetry"
January 1918, he married Nancy Nicholson
1927 He had a permanent seperation from his wife
He wrote many poems about his seperation with his wife
*
'Though once true lovers,
We are less than friends.
What woman ever
So ill-used her man?
That I played false
Not even she pretends:
May God forgive her,
For, alas, I can' I feel Graves is trying to say he is over his love, but he truly is not. He is acknowleging that they were once in love, but now nothing is there. I dont believe him. I think he wants us to believe that he has forgiven her for treating him so poorrly,but in reality he is still hurting on the inside. He is very direct, and he wants he reader to know that she mistreated him. The rhyme scheme of this poem is "A B C D E B C D"
Her Brief Withdrawal 'Forgive me,love, if I withdraw awhile:
It is only that you ask such bitter questions,
Always another beyond the extreme last.
And the answers astound : you have entangled me
In my own mystery. Grant me respite:
I was happier far, not asking, nor much caring
Choosing by appetite only: self-deposed,
Self reinstated, no one observing.
When I belittled this vibrancy of touch
And the active vengeance of these folded arms
No one could certify my powers for me
Or my saining virtue, or know that I compressed
Knots of destiny in a careless fist,
I who had passed for a foundling from the hills
Of innoncent and flower-like phantasies,
Though minting silver by my mere tread....
Did I not dote on you, I well might strike you
For implicating me in your true dream' I feel Graves was very heart broken when he wrote this poem. He realized he needed to break away what was slowly killing him. He had several instances where he was blaming love for hurting them, and he was ready for a break. The rhyme shceme of this poem is" A B C D E F G F H I D J K L M N O P" He used alot of imagery and metaphorical cases when he says "choosing by appetite only". Sometimes people are love hunngry. And he chose love because of this appetite. This is one of my favorite poems by him.
I feel that in the poem above, Graves has lost hope in love. He has stated how can it bother him any longer about who he loved. He finally moved past the phase of being heartbroken and moved into a sea of letting go of the past. The rhyme scheme of this poem is "A B A BB CC D CC" He used alot of imagery and showed his feelings toward what he was writing.
While still I sleep alone swallowing back
. The spittle of desire, unmanned, a tree
Pollarded of its crown, a dusty sack
Tossed on the stable rack?
How can I care what coloured frocks you wear,
What humming-birds you watch on jungle hills,
What phosphorence wavers in your hair,
Or with what water-music the night fills-
Dear love, how can I care?"
*
'Though once true lovers,
We are less than friends.
What woman ever
So ill-used her man?
That I played false
Not even she pretends:
May God forgive her,
For, alas, I can'
I feel Graves is trying to say he is over his love, but he truly is not. He is acknowleging that they were once in love, but now nothing is there. I dont believe him. I think he wants us to believe that he has forgiven her for treating him so poorrly,but in reality he is still hurting on the inside. He is very direct, and he wants he reader to know that she mistreated him. The rhyme scheme of this poem is "A B C D E B C D"
'Forgive me,love, if I withdraw awhile:
It is only that you ask such bitter questions,
Always another beyond the extreme last.
And the answers astound : you have entangled me
In my own mystery. Grant me respite:
I was happier far, not asking, nor much caring
Choosing by appetite only: self-deposed,
Self reinstated, no one observing.
When I belittled this vibrancy of touch
And the active vengeance of these folded arms
No one could certify my powers for me
Or my saining virtue, or know that I compressed
Knots of destiny in a careless fist,
I who had passed for a foundling from the hills
Of innoncent and flower-like phantasies,
Though minting silver by my mere tread....
Did I not dote on you, I well might strike you
For implicating me in your true dream'
I feel Graves was very heart broken when he wrote this poem. He realized he needed to break away what was slowly killing him. He had several instances where he was blaming love for hurting them, and he was ready for a break. The rhyme shceme of this poem is" A B C D E F G F H I D J K L M N O P" He used alot of imagery and metaphorical cases when he says "choosing by appetite only". Sometimes people are love hunngry. And he chose love because of this appetite. This is one of my favorite poems by him.
I feel that in the poem above, Graves has lost hope in love. He has stated how can it bother him any longer about who he loved. He finally moved past the phase of being heartbroken and moved into a sea of letting go of the past. The rhyme scheme of this poem is "A B A BB CC D CC" He used alot of imagery and showed his feelings toward what he was writing.
"Forgive Me Love If I Withdraw Awhile"